Publication
Title
The competition between confinement and ram pressure and its implications for galaxies in groups and clusters
Author
Abstract
Ram pressure stripping of the hot gas that surrounds normal galaxies as they fall into groups and clusters (also referred to as strangulation or starvation) is generally thought to shut down star formation on a time-scale of a few Gyr. However, it has recently been suggested, on the basis of X-rayoptical scaling relations of galaxies in the field and the group/cluster environment, that confinement pressure by the intracluster medium can actually lead to an increase in the mass of hot gas surrounding these galaxies. We investigate the competition between pressure confinement and ram pressure stripping for satellite galaxies in orbit about galaxy groups and clusters using simple analytic models and detailed cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. It is found that, independent of host mass, ram pressure is generally dominant over confinement pressure only similar to 16 per cent of galaxies find themselves in the reverse situation. Furthermore, these galaxies have, on average, less hot gas than ram-pressure-dominated ones, contrary to simple expectations. This is explained by the fact that the small number of galaxies which are confinement dominated are typically at first or second apocentre and have therefore already been maximally affected by ram pressure stripping around first pericentre. Our results are shown to be insensitive to host halo mass; we argue that the same is true for uncertain subgrid processes, such as feedback.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - Oxford, 1983, currens
Publication
Oxford : 2012
ISSN
0035-8711 [print]
1365-2966 [online]
DOI
10.1111/J.1365-2966.2012.21292.X
Volume/pages
424 :2 (2012) , p. 1179-1186
ISI
000306356800027
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 13.09.2012
Last edited 13.12.2024
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